you and i (we were born to die)
by a beautiful catastrophe
Summary: i love you, sasha thinks, and aleksis knows. / sasha, aleksis and all the ways they fell. au.


_russian revolution au_

Even though she is dressed in rags, has no makeup on, and her hair hasn't been washed for weeks, he thinks she looks beautiful.

Sasha and Aleksis Kaidonovsky are hiding, waiting for an opportunity to escape Russia as the war rages on and the cobblestone paths are stained red. The House of Kaidonovsky is a noble family of power and money — they are close friends of the royal Romanov family, the family of the former Tsar.

Which is why they need to run.

Anyone of such relation to the royal family is to be killed. All of the royal family's servants, cooks, friends, family, _everyone_ they somewhat care for or have served them is to be murdered at first sight. The rebels show no mercy for the rich, killing them in vengeance for the hard times the poor have suffered.

"When should we move?" Aleksis asks Sasha. Out of both of them, Sasha is the most strategic when it comes to hiding — when she was younger, she would find a way to hide from her mother to skip etiquette lessons so she could secretly listen to her older sister's tutor teach her math.

Wide eyed and alert, Sasha presses her ear to the wall before turning to Aleksis. "Aleks, shh, I think they are coming."

Aleksis nods, and presses his lips together tightly. If they get caught, all of his dreams will be destroyed. To live in a country of peace with Sasha by his side. To have children — to have the son that he and Sasha had always wanted.

There are footsteps. _Thud_. _Thud_. _Thud_.

"We need to run." Sasha hisses. "They _are_ coming. Get up."

They get up, hearts pounding in their chests, and break into a run. They can hear footsteps from behind them, but they don't look back — they only know it will slow them down.

"Kaidonovsky!" A man yells from behind them. "Stop running! Or I will fire the gun!"

"Shit," Aleksis curses. _He has a gun. This could be the end._

They keep on running, and _bang_ — the shot of a gun.

Aleksis hears Sasha cry out in pain. And sees her fall to the ground. A bullet is in her calf, and there is blood. _Blood_. Oh God. He stops, but Sasha glares at him and screams at him to continue running and forget about her.

But he can't continue running — his feet are firmly planted to the ground. How can he leave _Sasha_? How can he forget about her? How can he forget about his beautiful Sasha who can stop his heart with a smile? He can't leave here. He_ can't_. Instead, he shushes her screaming, and he holds her in his arms as she bleeds.

They both know that she is going to die.

"I love you," she whispers to him weakly.

"I love you too," he murmurs back and takes her hand in his.

And _bang _— another gunfire followed by a sadistic laugh. _Bang, bang, bang_. Sasha is the first one to go. She is not afraid of the tendrils of darkness that blur her vision until everything turns black. Her breathing slows, slows and _slows_, until she breathes no more.

Shortly after Sasha leaves, Aleksis does too. He can't live without her, and she can't die without him.

They are still holding hands long after they have both stopped breathing.

* * *

_sailor au_

As he clambers onto the slippery deck, the first thing he sees is her platinum blonde hair.

_What the fuck does she think she's doing? _he thinks. _There's a bloody storm going on out here — lightning and all — and she's just standing there? She's going to slip off the deck and fall into the ocean and _die_._

"Sasha!" he yells. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Isn't it beautiful, Aleksis?" Sasha muses absentmindedly, gripping the railing with one hand. "The ocean is beautiful."

"There's a storm going on!" Aleksis walks over to where she's standing, trying not to slip as the boat rocks back and forth.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." she faces him and rolls his eyes. "I'm fully aware that there's a storm going on."

"You could bloody well die up here!" Aleksis exclaims, and pulls one of her arms away from the railing in attempts to take her back inside.

"I don't care. The scenery is stunning." She turns and points to a crashing wave, and she smiles. "You saw that? That's beautiful."

"Sasha—" he lets out a sigh. _The most important thing is that she's safe._

"Aleksis, don't _"Sasha"_ me. I'm not a child. I'm _older_ than you." Sasha winces and her face softens at his hurt expression. "Aleks, I didn't mean it that way—"

"I know _exactly_ what you mean." he says, turning away to go back inside. _Forget I even tried._

"Aleks..." she grabs his arms. "Aleks. That didn't come out right."

"Sure." he laughs bitterly. "_Sure_."

"I—" They don't see a massive wave approaching the other side of the ship and _crash_. The ship tilts, and Sasha finds herself next to Aleksis on the floor with the taste of salt water in her mouth. They barely have time to get up before _crash_.

Another wave hits the ship and the ship tilts again. But this wave is enough to tip the whole boat over.

All of a sudden, Sasha and Aleksis are in the water, and_ I oh my god Aleksis I can't oh my god I can't breathe can't breathe help help air I need air drowning—_

"Sasha?" she hears Aleksis call her name. "Sash?"

She lets out a choked gurgle as she tries to push the boat off her head so she can breathe. Sasha manages to push the boat enough to breathe in a slight bit of air.

Aleksis swims as fast as he can over to Sasha even though he can barely breathe. The boat is crushing them both. He doubts either of them will survive to see the next day, but if one of them does, he hopes it'll be Sasha.

"I— I'm— sorry..." she manages to get out, gasping for air.

_We're not going to survive._

* * *

_fairytale au_

It's their wedding anniversary, and the beginning of one of the most happiest days of their lives.

They're in a carriage on their way to an secluded island resort far away from their kingdom, and even though it's a risky journey as they could easily be assassinated, they're too happy to worry about getting murdered at all. It hasn't crossed either of their minds once.

Sasha's gloved hand finds Aleksis's rough and calloused one.

He smiles as she leans into his shoulder. _What could possibly go wrong?_

Then all of a sudden, the carriage comes to a halt. Neither Sasha or Aleksis are suspicious — _we're probably just stopping for a water break._

"Your Highnesses, Prince Aleksis and Sasha," The coachman holds open the door for them as they step out of the carriage. Sasha frowns.

They've stopped in the middle of somewhere that looks like a desert. The weather is awful — where on earth are they? There's no lake or river in sight. There's no water.

"Kind sir," Sasha asks the coachman, "where are we?"

"Not to worry, not to worry, just a water break." the coachman looks as if he's trying to fight what he's saying, but he can't. The look on his face resembles the face of a constipated person on a toilet. "Right this way, Your Highnesses."

They walk through the desert until their feet are blistered and sore and night is about to fall.

"Are you sure there is a source of water in this location?" Aleksis questions. This isn't right.

"Yes, yes," the coachman assures them airily. "Of course, sir. We're nearly there. Ah, here we are."

The coachman turns and points to an approaching figure.

At first glance, the figure looks like any civilian. But on closer inspection, she's not. And everything makes sense.

"Rowena," Aleksis steps in front of Sasha protectively. _I'm not going to let this evil witch harm Sasha. I can't._ "what do you want from us?"

"Aleksis," Rowena smirks. "Rather direct of you, hm? Don't you want to know how I got the rather daft coachman of yours to lead you here?"

"I already know, you casted a spell. Sorcery. What do you want?" Aleksis scowls and has his hands positioned above the sword holder on his belt. I knew I should've brought guards despite Sasha's protest.

"I believe your wife and I made an agreement a couple of years ago, and I hear rumours that your lovely wife has fallen pregnant with a child." Aleksis turns and faces Sasha, who pales considerably.

"It was many years ago, Rowena..." Sasha attempts. "Couldn't we settle for something else? Jewels? Gold? We will give you as much gold as you wish."

"I have all the gold in the world, darling. Why would I need gold? And from you out of all people? I want the child when it arrives." Her words are cold.

"No," is the first word that escapes Sasha's mouth. "No."

"No?" Rowena cocks her head to the side. "Is that wise,_ Your Highness_?"

Her words mean something else entirely. Give me the child, or die cruelly at my hands begging for mercy.

"No means no." Aleksis says firmly.

"Alright, then." Rowena shrugs, her catlike eyes glittering dangerously in the moonlight. "I suppose I should start with you first."

Neither Aleksis or Sasha know who Rowena is referring to until Aleksis's sword flies out of his holder and points itself at Aleksis's throat. Rowena's hand glows brightly.

"Any last words?" Rowena asks tauntingly, leaning forward.

"You're a bitch," he says, and spits in her face.

She flushes crimson and narrows her eyes. "Have it your way."

And in one swift motion she slashes his throat.

* * *

_pacific rim_

As the metal begins to crush the pilots and the water comes in, the first thing they think is; _we win or we die._

That's how it is, that's how it's always been. From the time they started piloting Cherno Alpha, it's never had an escape hatch despite the number of times the people who construct Jaegers have offered to add one in. If it's expected that a captain goes down with it's ship, then why isn't it expected that rangers should go down with their Jaeger?

The idea of escaping the Jaeger while it's being destroyed is unfathomable to the two Russians. This is their life. From the moment they stepped inside Cherno, there was no turning back. This is their Jaeger. Their joy and pride. Their dreams and their hope.

Their everything.

Inside Cherno is the only place they can be themselves — they put on masks of courage and bravado on for the public when really they're so fucking scared they can barely breathe. The Jaeger helps them stay sane.

The _drift_ helps them stay sane. They know they're in this together. They know they're not alone. They know.

_i love you_, Sasha thinks.

And Aleksis knows.

.

**a/n:** this is dedicated to rish for being my pacific rim buddy, ily &hearts. first time writing sashaaleksis, so i hope this is good and everything made sense and all that jazz. please ask questions and tell me i'm completely and totally wrong and i suck if that's what you think because your opinion is totally right and i would definitely be willing to answer and explain anything.

OH and i nearly forgot, but if you're interested in participating in a pacific rim fanfiction exchange, please leave a comment in a review saying you are or drop me a pm! if you don't know what that is but you still think it sounds interesting still pm me or comment and i will explain. i would absolutely love more participants so i'd be so hyped if you are interested.

okayy now that that's over i'm sorry for the long a/n (not sorry oops) and thank you for reading this far if you did! dropping a review would be total awesomesauce c:


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